Straps and belts adapted to be placed around the trunk of the body as well as around a body appendage are known to the prior art. One such device is the tourniquet disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,495 to F. O. Wright. The tourniquet utilizes a form of fastener having hook components on a base fabric capable of mating interaction with, upon placement of the hook components on, a base fabric carrying a multiplicity of loops to resist, after engagement, separation along the plane parallel to the interfacial plane of engagement. The hook components and loops, however, are readily separable merely by a peeling force applied substantially normal to this interfacial plane. This type of fastener generally is formed of a sheet of synthetic woven or knitted fabric having raised threads of synthetic material, such as nylon. The threads are either napped or unnapped and provide a pile surface defined by a plurality of loops which may be thermally treated to a semi-rigid state. Certain of the loops may then be cut along one side near their outer extremity to form hooks. Such a fastener is marketed by Velcro Corporation, New York, New York, under the registered trademark VELCRO brand hook-and-loop fasteners. The fastener has gained wide acceptance because of the properties of the hooks and loops which permit the mating engagement and both the degree of securement and releasing capability, as previously described. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,717,437 and 3,009,235 to G. de Mestral for further description and particulars.
The tourniquet of Wright is adapted to be placed on an appendage of the body and secured in place by a VELCRO fastener. The substrate supporting the VELCRO fastener, once the tourniquet is so located, is pressurized for whatever medical procedure is contemplated.
The prior art also includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,872,860 to N. L. Noblitt and 4,004,583 to D. E. Johnson. The Noblitt patent discloses a belt described as a pelvic traction belt adapted to be placed around the trunk of the body. The belt includes an outer face formed of a woven fabric having a plurality of catch-defining external loops. A strap is described as being fastened to the belt by interaction of the external loops of the belt and hook parts of the strap. The strip is subject to be placed under a tensioning load. Noblitt characterized the fastener including the loops and hooks as a VELCRO fastener. The Johnsom patent discloses a strap, utilized as a restraining device for restraining the movement of an individual. The restraining device is illustrated as applied to the upper trunk or the body and to the legs to accomplish this end. The restraining device includes a VELCRO fastener.
A further patent of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,474 to A. J. De Meo. The De Meo patent discloses a belt connected at the front by a buckle-type arrangement including, also, loops and a fastening strap, and having a pair of handgrips carried by the belt substantially within the region midway of the buckle-type arrangement.
The De Meo device, among possible others of like nature, includes bulky and heavy hardware making the belt both cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear; and, in addition, the arrangement on the belt of De Meo is difficult to manipulate both for securement in a body embracing condition and in release from that condition. This difficulty would be even more pronounced if the belt were to be used with invalid patients. Further, the number of adjustable, preselected positions in use of the De Meo device is limited requiring a plurality of different sized belts. As may be apparent, the cost to manufacturers in the production and supply of belts of different size and/or dimension is greater than would be the cost of a belt having greater versatility of use.
This latter disadvantage of the De Meo structure applies in some degree to the devices of the prior art, also described above, and each of the prior art structures have the disadvantage that their construction renders them relatively inflexible, stiff and uncomfortable in use. They are, also, in physical makeup, rather dense in cross-section with little or no capability of "breathing". This factor only compounds the feeling of uncomfortability in use.
Further, the Wright, Noblitt and Johnson devices neither have a capability for the support and guiding of an individual nor are they considered to be versatile in use. These prior art devices, either because of the manner of fastening or because of their constructional makeup, are of a nature that they are uncomfortable in use.
A further device of the prior art is adapted for use as a strap both for the support and guiding of an individual. The strap is adapted to be placed about the body, within the region of the midsection, and secured by face-to-face engagement of a plurality of elements of the hook-and-loop type supported in upstanding relation along a surface of a base layer and a plurality of engaging elements carried by a fastener member at the overlapped end of the strap. The strap is of double ply construction, that is, the base layer which is of knit material is doubled over or folded upon itself, whereby the engaging elements of the hook-and-loop type are supported along both surfaces. A second fastener member is located adjacent the other strap end, on the opposite side of the strap from the first-mentioned fastener member; and a handle in the form of a web of pliant, yet sturdy material is secured to a surface which shall be the outer surface when the strap is so located. The handle is secured at spaced locations along the length of the strap and gripped by an attendant in assisting or aiding ambulation.
While this last-mentioned strap may overcome substantially those problems and disadvantages of the prior art devices mentioned theretofore, such as bulkiness, difficulty in manipulation, and lack of total adjustability, among other, the strap, itself, suffers from certain problems and disadvantages. Thus, the double ply knit material makeup has little or no holding capability against slippage around the body. Further, the handle which is secured along the length of the strap has been found somewhat wanting with regard to the measure of control that the attendant is able to provide.